WEBVTT 00:00:01.600 --> 00:00:05.360 Welcome to the podcast of Christ Methodist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:10.320 Join us as we dive into this week's sermon that challenges our hearts and minds to grow closer to Christ. 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:14.560 We pray that your heart is inspired and transformed by God's Word. 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:25.839 Our scripture reading this morning comes from Second Corinthians chapter seven verses two through sixteen. 00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:28.879 Make room in your hearts for us. 00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:35.840 We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one. 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:44.880 I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:52.159 I am acting with great boldness toward you, I have great pride in you, I am filled with comfort. 00:00:52.479 --> 00:01:08.400 In all our affliction I am overflowing with joy, for even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn, fighting without and fear within. 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:28.560 But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more. 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:39.519 For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:52.400 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting, for you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. 00:01:52.799 --> 00:02:00.480 For godly grief produces repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:15.840 For see what eager what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment? 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:20.080 At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:35.280 So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God. 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:37.759 Therefore we are comforted. 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:46.560 And besides our own comfort, we rejoice still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:52.159 For whatever boast I made to him about you, I was not put to shame. 00:02:52.479 --> 00:03:07.919 But just as everything we said to you was true, so also our boasting before Titus is proved true, and his affection for you is even greater, as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling. 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:12.319 I rejoice, because I have complete confidence in you. 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:15.680 This is the word of God for the people of God. 00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:17.759 Thanks be to God. 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:21.039 Amen and amen. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:24.560 I greet you this morning in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:29.520 My name is Paul Lawler, and I have the honor of serving as a senior pastor of Christ Methodists. 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:31.280 We welcome you today. 00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:41.840 I have said from time to time that I think our mission's pastor Nathan Cook has a prophetic voice to the church. 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:51.439 And in light of that, uh Nathan has innocently read next week's text rather than today's text, and it's not his fault. 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:56.719 I I've got his I've got his back on this. 00:03:57.039 --> 00:04:11.199 You may remember we had guests that we interviewed last Sunday, and I failed to get a memo to Nathan that we needed to shift the sequence of our teaching in Second Corinthians. 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:21.839 So to be faithful to the text, and it's brief but poignant, let me read today's text to you and be comforted that you are fully prepared for next week. 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:28.240 Hear the Word of God, Second Corinthians six, fourteen through seven one. 00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:38.480 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:41.519 What accord has Christ with Belial? 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:45.120 Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:48.800 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:59.199 For we are the temple of the living God, as God said, I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:13.920 Therefore go out from their midst and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing, then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:29.120 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. 00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:46.959 And Jesus, we pray with the understanding that you said that you not only dwell in heaven, but you dwell with the one who is humble and contrite and trembles at your word. 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:56.480 So we pray that as we continue to worship you through your word, that you would work your grace in us to align us with you. 00:05:57.120 --> 00:05:59.920 And we pray it in Jesus' name, Amen. 00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:04.319 I want to tell you this morning about a man named David. 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:05.759 It's not his real name. 00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:10.959 I'm substituting it just to protect his identity. 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:13.360 But David grew up in the church. 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:14.879 He sang in the youth choir. 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:19.360 Growing up, he attended vacation Bible school every summer. 00:06:19.759 --> 00:06:23.839 He could quote John 3.16 before he could ride a bike. 00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:44.560 And somewhere, however, in his mid-twenties, David began to make a series of choices, not dramatic choices, not headline grabbing choices, just the kind of choices that were very subtle, incremental, just that kind of just allowed him to drift a bit. 00:06:44.800 --> 00:06:56.480 He married someone who did not share his faith, not because he stopped believing, but because he told himself, you know, we're in love, things will work out okay. 00:06:56.879 --> 00:07:13.600 He started spending his Sundays watching football instead of attending worship, not because he stopped believing, but because he told himself in his self-talk, God will understand I think I'm basically a good person. 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:24.079 He stopped reading his Bible, not because he stopped believing, but because well, life got busy. 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:36.319 And years later, David sat in my office and with pain in his eyes, he said something like this, Pastor, I'm not sure exactly how I got to where I am. 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:43.199 I never stopped believing, I just stopped being deliberate. 00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:59.199 And I want to tell you with all the love in my heart that that's exactly the kind of person the Apostle Paul is addressing in 2 Corinthians 6 and 7. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:27.920 Not the person who walked away from God in some dramatic fashion, but the believer who drifted, the Christian that stopped being deliberate, the follower of Jesus that got comfortable, slow, creeping compromise that over time cost this person everything that the apostle Paul calls in this section the promises of God. 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:38.799 That's why Paul has been reminding us in this section, and I've been reminding you, don't waste God's grace. 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:43.440 And Paul the apostle knows that that's possible. 00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:58.720 He knows that with your one and only life that passes like a vapor, that there are patterns that can get ingrained in you just by cultural influence that will cause you to neglect the grace of God. 00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:04.399 Life is short, and yet life has meaning and purpose in God, and we can miss it. 00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:12.240 And that's why Paul writes in chapter 6 and 7 with a high decibel level of urgency for the believer. 00:09:12.559 --> 00:09:20.720 But this section is also an invitation, a deep, relational, life-giving invitation. 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:30.799 In fact, I've subtitled this message this morning as we talk about being the temple of God, really is a call to come home. 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:42.080 It's a call to come home and to be renewed in your first love of Jesus and to know and rejoice and live into the gift of all of the promises of God. 00:09:42.240 --> 00:09:54.720 There are over 7,000 of them in Scripture, but the one that Paul really brings home is the gift of the grace of God empowering you to live for the glory of God. 00:09:54.960 --> 00:10:00.960 And so Paul addresses this issue of coming home in three primary areas. 00:10:01.039 --> 00:10:05.519 And so he begins with what we would call the image of a yoke. 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:16.399 That is, the matter of the direction of your life predicated upon your closest relationships in your life and how they influence you. 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:25.120 Paul begins with a farming metaphor, and his audience would have immediately, in an agrarian culture, understood this imagery. 00:10:25.279 --> 00:10:34.559 A yoke is a wooden beam that is placed over two animals so that the two animals can align their strength and power to plow together. 00:10:34.720 --> 00:10:39.440 It's about a shared direction, a shared burden, a shared purpose. 00:10:39.679 --> 00:10:53.759 And so, commonsensically, if you yoke an ox and a donkey together, you don't just get inefficiency, you get frustration, you get imbalance, you get harm ultimately. 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:57.279 One pulls stronger, the other pulls differently. 00:10:57.519 --> 00:11:04.720 One obeys commands, the other one resists commands, the field suffers, the animals suffer. 00:11:04.879 --> 00:11:19.200 And the imagery that Paul's pulling from is actually out of the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 22.10, where the Lord gives instruction, very commonsensical, you shall not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together. 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:21.919 And the point is not complicated. 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:33.759 Two animals with fundamentally different natures, different strengths, different gaits, when you bind them together, neither of them flourishes. 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:44.720 Nothing gets accomplished that was intended. 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:53.919 So, church family, I would assume most of us, not everybody, but most of us in this sanctuary have a Christian background. 00:11:54.080 --> 00:11:57.200 And if you've been a Christian very long, you've heard the verse. 00:11:57.360 --> 00:11:59.600 Tech team, could we put the one verse up here? 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:05.279 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. 00:12:05.919 --> 00:12:14.639 We've heard this verse, and you've probably heard it applied almost exclusively to marriage. 00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:19.360 And with the instruction, do not marry an unbeliever. 00:12:19.440 --> 00:12:22.399 And that's true, it absolutely applies here. 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:32.320 But what we fail to miss oftentimes when we read verses like this is that Paul's language is much broader than that. 00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:44.080 Paul is implying this image not only to marriage, but to every deep and binding alliance that could be created throughout our lives. 00:12:44.320 --> 00:13:06.240 Every relationship, every partnership that takes on a depth of some type of bond in relationship creates entanglements fundamentally, where you potentially could be binding your life to a completely different set of values, a different ultimate allegiance, a different Lord. 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:22.399 And before we go any further, I need to pause and say, hear me carefully on what I'm about I'm about to say, because this is very important because there are persons who do miss, there are persons who do misunderstand, and there are persons who misapply the text. 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:26.159 And I need to address that before we go any further. 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:36.320 Paul is not saying, live in a Christian bubble and never speak to anyone who doesn't go to church or knows Jesus Christ. 00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:39.279 He is absolutely not saying that. 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:54.960 In fact, Paul clarified that in the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 5, 9 and 10, where he says, I didn't tell you not to associate with the immoral people of this world, for then you would need to leave the world. 00:13:55.200 --> 00:14:00.720 We're all aware as followers of Jesus that you are sent into the world. 00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:04.240 We all are missionaries to the world. 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:08.720 And so Paul is not saying do not have friendships with unbelievers. 00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:30.480 What he is saying is don't enter into deep, defining, binding alliances where you are bound to a system of values, a set of loyalties, a relationship dynamic that is fundamentally different, a direction than that which represents the kingdom of God. 00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:35.200 And then if you've got your Bible those open, notice what Paul does next. 00:14:35.360 --> 00:14:37.919 He doesn't just give a command, church family. 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:41.919 He asks five rhetorical questions. 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:45.120 And these are not softball questions. 00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:49.440 These are, do you see what you're actually dealing with? 00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:50.240 questions? 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:58.960 These are the kinds of questions which he asks in order to shake you out of being spiritually asleep. 00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:03.919 And he says, What partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? 00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:06.879 What fellowship has light with darkness? 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:09.759 What accord has Christ with Belial? 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:12.320 Belial is a name for Satan. 00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:16.080 What portion does a believer have with an unbeliever? 00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:19.679 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:23.120 And what he's doing here, he's not asking for answers. 00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:26.879 He's simply making a rhetorical point with these questions. 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:31.600 He is emphasizing with Holy Spirit emphaticness. 00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:36.000 These are not compatible realities. 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:41.840 Light does not negotiate with darkness, it overcomes it. 00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:47.519 Righteousness does not partner with lawlessness, it exposes it. 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:53.919 And he's what he's not doing is he's not saying that a Christ follower is superior to anyone. 00:15:54.320 --> 00:16:00.799 What he's drawing out is your identity, who and whose you really are. 00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:13.600 Because you're a person of light, think about it this way: if you walk into a dark room and you flip on a light switch, the darkness doesn't argue, it disappears. 00:16:13.759 --> 00:16:14.240 Why? 00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:19.360 Because light and darkness cannot coexist as equals. 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:21.679 One defines the space. 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:31.919 And the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is declaring if you belong to Christ, your life is meant to define the space. 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:40.559 If you belong to Christ, your life is meant to be defined by his light, not negotiated with darkness. 00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:44.080 Loved ones, there are a thousand examples of this. 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:46.559 Thousands of examples. 00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:51.120 If I begin to illustrate this, I would only begin touching the surface. 00:16:51.279 --> 00:16:54.720 I think about circumstances I've heard through the years. 00:16:54.799 --> 00:17:03.120 I think about the the brother who comes to me years ago, not this church, okay, because this church doesn't have any challenges, just other churches, right? 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:15.039 And this brother comes to me, member of my congregation, Pastor Paul, when we when I get off work at five o'clock, there's a group of guys that all get together and just hang out and have have a drink together. 00:17:15.279 --> 00:17:16.480 I'm like, okay. 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:30.960 And then he shares with me that one drink over time led to two, two led to three, and instead of coming home to spend an evening with his wife and kids, that he lingered longer. 00:17:31.039 --> 00:17:37.839 And as he lingered longer, the joking got more crass at times. 00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:50.799 And then as the joking got more crass, there were times where it became very well, times it became common for the group of guys to just gossip about the people at the office. 00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:59.599 And the question you would begin to ask is are they discipling you? 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:03.200 Or are you discipling them? 00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:06.960 There are thousand examples, loved one. 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:09.839 Thousands and thousands of examples. 00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:14.240 But Paul reminds us here, the apostle, of the image of a yoke. 00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:15.440 Come home. 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:17.119 Come home. 00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:20.640 It's a matter of your life's direction. 00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:22.799 Come home. 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:32.400 And then he moves to a second image, and it's the image that you and I, we are the temple of the living God. 00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:40.319 He raises the stakes and he emphasizes the urgency of followers of Jesus taking action. 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:48.960 He's emphasizing that you're not just influenced by God, you are indwelt by God as a believer. 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:54.960 That's why verse 16 says, We are the temple of the living God. 00:18:55.119 --> 00:18:56.000 Now think about that. 00:18:56.160 --> 00:18:58.400 Don't let that just pass through your ears. 00:18:58.559 --> 00:19:00.720 Think about that deeply in the heart. 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:08.480 God is declaring, I'm not dwelling in a building, I'm not dwelling in a location, I'm not dwelling in a weekly gathering. 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:10.079 I dwell in you. 00:19:10.799 --> 00:19:12.319 In you, believer. 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:16.480 He doesn't just visit, he dwells. 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:19.759 And then Paul does something extraordinary. 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:32.319 He reaches back into the Old Testament, and as he does, he declares something that has been true of the people of God for thousands and thousands of years and remains true today. 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:36.000 Verse 16, I will make my dwelling among them. 00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:39.440 Old Testament, it was in a tabernacle and a temple. 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:41.920 New Testament, you are that temple. 00:19:42.160 --> 00:19:49.279 I will make my dwelling among them, I will walk among them, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:52.400 Loved ones, this is covenant language. 00:19:53.119 --> 00:19:58.079 We need to preach and teach on the covenants of Scripture, but that's not for today. 00:19:58.240 --> 00:19:59.920 This is covenant language. 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:02.400 This is relationship language. 00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:05.519 This is belonging language. 00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:16.319 When I was a kid and playing football, I remember there was a penalty that could be called uh now time nowadays, most of the time it's just called a late hit. 00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:28.000 But when I was a kid, if if if the tackle had already been made and some somebody runs and piles on, that was called piling on. 00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:41.279 Well, the apostle Paul in love piles on here, but this mode is pure, because after he quotes the Old Testament, he then piles on with this. 00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:50.880 The Lord says, I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord God Almighty. 00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:53.200 I'm going to circle back to that in just a moment. 00:20:53.359 --> 00:21:00.079 But what I want you to notice is the spirit in which God is saying he's going to dwell in you. 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:02.240 He is dwelling in you. 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:17.039 I want you to imagine for a moment that you get a phone call and you're discovering that you're about to host a very important guest in your home, and you clean and you rearrange and you make space. 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:28.079 But imagine that the person who calls you expresses they're not coming for a visit, they're coming to move in permanently. 00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:32.000 And would you not agree that changes everything? 00:21:32.319 --> 00:21:37.119 You don't say, Hey, come to my house, make yourself comfortable around my clutter. 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:43.599 You say, Oh, I've got to make this place worthy of your presence. 00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:52.319 Love ones, in this text, God is not withholding his promise from you because you haven't been good enough. 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:59.279 And that's part of what Paul is saying here, because his all his promises have already been spoken, they're already made available to you. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:14.559 Already on the table, the question Paul is asking is Are you arranging your heart, your life, the cleaning out the clutter to make yourself available to receive the promises of God? 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:24.160 You ever had a dream where you're not sure if you're in a dream state or in your in reality somewhere? 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:25.839 Maybe it's just me. 00:22:26.880 --> 00:22:31.119 Years ago, Missy and I, we hadn't been married very long. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:41.039 And early one morning, I had a dream, but I wasn't totally sure if I was awake or if I was a dream, I was dreaming. 00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:46.160 And I dreamed there was a tarantula spider on Missy's face. 00:22:47.359 --> 00:22:55.440 And so I'm, you know, naturally, if you think there's a spider on your wife's face and you love her, what do you do? 00:22:55.759 --> 00:22:57.680 You knock the spider off. 00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:09.200 And so I think I'm awake, but I'm not awake, and I start knocking the spider off, only then to hear this voice go, What are you doing? 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:11.119 What do you why are you hitting me? 00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:12.480 What is going on? 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:19.279 And then I say, Well, there's a big spider on your face, which took everything to another level. 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:22.720 She jumps out of bed just frantic. 00:23:25.759 --> 00:23:30.480 And you all know that there's a false premise. 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:32.960 There's no spider. 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:36.000 And we're all reacting. 00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:41.440 I'm reacting, she's reacting out of that which is really an illusion. 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:50.720 And the truth be told, many of you are living in an illusion. 00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:57.279 Wake up and believe what is true. 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:01.440 If you're in Christ, you're the temple of God. 00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:04.640 He dwells in you. 00:24:05.279 --> 00:24:08.079 It's not an illusion, it's true. 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:11.200 It's what the word of God says about you. 00:24:12.319 --> 00:24:24.400 And so, Paul, as he's sharing this, he's saying, Because a holy God dwells in you, clear space in the temple for the one who wants to dwell there. 00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:32.559 And then Paul takes us to this third phase where he says, Come out, be separate. 00:24:33.039 --> 00:24:40.559 Now, this is a phrase that can make us feel uncomfortable on the front end, but look with me at verse 17 of the first part. 00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:47.359 Paul says, Therefore, go out from their midst, be separate from them, says the Lord, touch no unclean thing. 00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:48.960 Let's ask a question together. 00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:49.839 What does that mean? 00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.640 Well, first of all, let's go back to what it doesn't mean, what it does not mean. 00:24:54.799 --> 00:24:57.759 It does not mean abandoning the world. 00:24:57.920 --> 00:24:59.599 That's not the context. 00:24:59.839 --> 00:25:09.279 Jesus himself prayed for us in John 17, prayed that we would not be taken out of the world, but we would be protected within it. 00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:16.559 He also prayed that we would be salty and full of light, influential around people in the world. 00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:23.440 So what it does mean is that we're not to conform to the world and its fallen values. 00:25:23.599 --> 00:25:26.799 It means we don't adopt its priorities. 00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:35.599 It means that we're not letting people who oppose God define us because we are salty. 00:25:35.839 --> 00:25:42.160 A ship is meant to be in the water, but the water is not meant to be in the ship. 00:25:42.319 --> 00:25:49.359 The moment the environment outside of us begins to flood the inside, the vessel is in danger. 00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:52.559 And Christians are called to live in the world. 00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:59.039 But when the world begins to live in us unchecked, then we begin to sink. 00:25:59.359 --> 00:26:03.359 Once again, the culture is not supposed to disciple you. 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:09.279 You, as a child of God, are designed to disciple the culture. 00:26:09.440 --> 00:26:14.240 And what Paul is sharing here is separation is not about distance. 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:17.839 It's about distinction. 00:26:18.079 --> 00:26:19.440 You're different. 00:26:19.759 --> 00:26:32.559 Now, note this in the middle of the Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, in the middle of him sharing with us that we're called to holiness, that's in the text. 00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:36.240 God also gives us a promise that changes everything. 00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:39.680 And so I shared with you, I was going to circle back in just a moment. 00:26:39.839 --> 00:26:47.440 Let's go back to verse 18, where notice the spirit in which the Father is speaking to you this morning from his word. 00:26:47.839 --> 00:26:49.839 I will be a father to you. 00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:52.079 Think about that, church. 00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:56.400 And you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord. 00:26:56.640 --> 00:26:57.839 You know what that tells us? 00:26:58.480 --> 00:26:59.599 I want to just invite you. 00:26:59.759 --> 00:27:01.359 Let this get personal. 00:27:02.160 --> 00:27:12.000 That tells us that what we're learning this morning is not coming out of a cold command, it's coming out of a warm relationship. 00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:17.759 God's not saying to us, clean yourself up so I'll accept you. 00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:24.240 He's saying, because you belong to me, live like you're really my children. 00:27:24.960 --> 00:27:30.400 A child in a loving home doesn't obey simply out of fear. 00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:34.799 They respond to relationship because they know who they belong to. 00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:43.119 When I was a kid, and maybe violated a boundary, maybe I punched my brother when I shouldn't have. 00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:49.200 My father, when he would discipline me, sometimes would say things like this. 00:27:49.759 --> 00:28:00.480 He would get down on a level, hold me by the shoulders, look me in the eye, and he would say, Son, that's not who we are. 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:03.839 Do you understand what he was doing? 00:28:04.960 --> 00:28:12.799 He wasn't just correcting behavior, he was validating identity. 00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:18.480 And that's what God is doing with us with this word. 00:28:19.759 --> 00:28:24.799 Since he says in verse one, since we have these promises, beloved. 00:28:25.599 --> 00:28:26.960 Can we stop right there? 00:28:27.920 --> 00:28:32.319 Since we have these promises, beloved, notice that word beloved. 00:28:32.640 --> 00:28:35.039 Notice the warm relationship. 00:28:35.200 --> 00:28:40.160 Notice that the Father is not speaking to you in the lens of pressuring you. 00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:47.519 He's speaking to you in love. 00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:54.880 By the way, that's one of the biblical basis for why Pastor Paul calls you loved ones. 00:28:55.200 --> 00:28:56.799 It's not my idea. 00:28:57.039 --> 00:29:00.559 It's because it's all over the text, it's all over the Bible. 00:29:01.200 --> 00:29:06.799 You're loved by your Heavenly Father, your beloved loved ones. 00:29:07.759 --> 00:29:12.960 And so, since we have these promises, loved ones, look at the rest of the verse. 00:29:13.279 --> 00:29:14.880 Warm relationship. 00:29:15.119 --> 00:29:24.319 Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. 00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:35.680 And this is where our responsibility meets God in the arms of God's warm grace, his grace. 00:29:36.319 --> 00:29:39.599 God provides the promises to transform us. 00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.480 We pursue how to posture and respond to his love. 00:29:44.880 --> 00:29:48.480 Cleanse ourselves doesn't mean that we save ourselves. 00:29:48.640 --> 00:29:55.440 It means we cooperate with what God is doing and developing all of us into Christ's likeness. 00:29:55.680 --> 00:30:09.039 Holiness is not instant perfection, as we all know, it's an ongoing transformation that undergoes a whole series of iterations as we walk and we grow in Christ. 00:30:09.200 --> 00:30:11.039 You know, you could think about it like this. 00:30:11.519 --> 00:30:15.359 My wife, Missy, used to restore furniture. 00:30:15.599 --> 00:30:21.920 And I'm always aware that she would buy a piece of furniture, and I would go, there's no hope for that piece of furniture. 00:30:22.160 --> 00:30:22.880 It's gone. 00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:26.000 It's dusty, it's caked with this and that. 00:30:26.960 --> 00:30:30.000 And then she would begin to strip the furniture. 00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:39.039 And then oftentimes she would work out the dirt and the scratches and the dents, and I would look at it four weeks later. 00:30:43.119 --> 00:30:45.599 And that's kind of like us. 00:30:46.559 --> 00:30:53.839 When we come to Christ, we got all kinds of scratch and dents and wounds and layers of this and that. 00:30:54.559 --> 00:31:00.079 But God's restoring us, He's restoring the image of Jesus in you. 00:31:00.319 --> 00:31:04.720 And He invites you and I to participate in the process. 00:31:05.440 --> 00:31:10.160 So before we close, let's bring this down to where we live. 00:31:10.720 --> 00:31:21.200 First of all, note that what the Holy Spirit has inspired Paul, the apostle, to teach us is that our relationships matter. 00:31:21.599 --> 00:31:26.160 People who don't know Christ, our relationships matter because we're on mission. 00:31:26.480 --> 00:31:32.880 But our relationships also matter with those that we bond with, that we're closest to. 00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:47.680 I remember years ago coaching my kids' sports teams, and there were certain years where I had to fight for my own heart when I was coaching with a coach that was an unbeliever, and I would go, Lord, keep my heart in check. 00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:49.920 Is he influencing me? 00:31:50.240 --> 00:31:52.240 Or am I influencing him? 00:31:53.119 --> 00:31:58.400 Relationships matter, and being properly yoked matters. 00:31:58.640 --> 00:32:09.759 Our values, are we adopting the world's definition of success, or are we living into God's definition of success? 00:32:09.920 --> 00:32:11.839 Our habits, what are you allowing? 00:32:12.079 --> 00:32:16.400 Your mind and your heart, your life to meditate on. 00:32:16.640 --> 00:32:20.480 What are those things that are dulling your sensitivities to God? 00:32:20.960 --> 00:32:22.079 Compromise. 00:32:22.319 --> 00:32:27.759 What are areas where you've blurred lines that really God has made clear? 00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:33.440 And I want to lovingly remind you, notice that how this passage is not about legalism. 00:32:33.680 --> 00:32:35.519 It's really about alignment. 00:32:35.839 --> 00:32:40.799 Aligning your heart with God. 00:32:42.960 --> 00:32:44.880 So let me leave you with this. 00:32:45.599 --> 00:32:56.240 There's an old story of a lighthouse keeper who was responsible for keeping the light and the lighthouse burning so that ships could pass by safely. 00:32:56.559 --> 00:33:04.880 But one night people kept coming to him for oil, for their lamps, for their needs. 00:33:05.839 --> 00:33:11.519 And being a people pleaser, he gave some of his oil away. 00:33:12.240 --> 00:33:16.240 And by midnight the lighthouse ran out of oil. 00:33:16.640 --> 00:33:28.319 The light went out, and ships crashed into the rocks, and people, innocent people, lost their lives. 00:33:36.960 --> 00:33:39.359 And it led to a disaster. 00:33:41.440 --> 00:33:42.240 Church. 00:34:07.359 --> 00:34:11.599 Holiness is not about withdrawing from the Lord. 00:34:12.719 --> 00:34:20.320 It's about staying filled with the oil of God's presence so that your light remains strong. 00:34:20.480 --> 00:34:35.599 And the Apostle Paul here in this passage, in a spirit of urgency, because he knows that there are certain patterns that can get ingrained into our hearts that will win if we do not give them attention. 00:34:35.920 --> 00:34:41.280 Paul here draws a line, but it's not a line to confine you. 00:34:41.440 --> 00:34:49.280 It is a line that is designed to refine you in a way that it defines you for the glory of God. 00:34:49.440 --> 00:34:51.199 So be mindful, believer. 00:34:51.440 --> 00:34:53.920 You are yoked with Jesus Christ. 00:34:54.159 --> 00:34:58.320 Be mindful that you are the temple of the living God. 00:34:58.559 --> 00:35:00.400 Do not live under an illusion. 00:35:00.559 --> 00:35:02.880 Do not enable an illusion. 00:35:03.199 --> 00:35:04.880 God dwells in you. 00:35:05.119 --> 00:35:07.679 You are his sons and his daughters. 00:35:07.840 --> 00:35:13.199 So live in a way that reflects who and whose you really are. 00:35:13.599 --> 00:35:32.320 Not perfectly, no one will do that, this side of heaven, but intentionally, not out of an earthly fear, but out of a holy reverence for a holy God who calls you his beloved, not to earn his love, but because you already have it. 00:35:35.280 --> 00:35:41.519 Since we have these promises, loved ones, let's live into them. 00:35:41.920 --> 00:35:44.159 Let's live like it. 00:35:44.719 --> 00:35:48.480 In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 00:35:48.800 --> 00:35:49.440 Amen. 00:35:50.079 --> 00:35:51.360 Let's pray. 00:35:54.719 --> 00:36:02.639 And so we pray, O God, that every illusion would be pierced with light. 00:36:03.280 --> 00:36:16.400 And that Lord, where we have yokes that are not appropriate, we pray, Lord, that this week that we will take steps to move toward you in a healthy direction. 00:36:17.280 --> 00:36:26.559 Lord, I I I will address this in prayer, even though I know it's very personal for many in this sanctuary. 00:36:27.039 --> 00:36:48.159 I pray, Lord, God, that you would also stir the kind of courage, Holy Spirit fueled courage to take the right steps in light of what you're speaking to us this morning. 00:36:48.480 --> 00:37:02.559 Father, I pray that we would live in a way that reflects who you really are, not out of seeking to earn your love, but because you already love us. 00:37:02.880 --> 00:37:21.360 And then, Lord, anyone in the sound of my voice that have yet to come to know Christ, I pray, Lord, that you would draw them this morning, move them to a place of repentance of sin and putting their faith in Jesus as the Son of God. 00:37:21.599 --> 00:37:23.119 Let them come home. 00:37:23.360 --> 00:37:24.800 Draw them home, Lord. 00:37:24.960 --> 00:37:28.239 No one comes to the Son unless the Father draws them. 00:37:28.320 --> 00:37:33.039 And so we pray, draw to the Son in miracle working power. 00:37:33.199 --> 00:37:38.800 And Lord, as you draw to the Son, birth persons into the kingdom, we pray. 00:37:39.039 --> 00:37:41.039 In Jesus' name, amen. 00:37:45.840 --> 00:37:50.960 Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the podcast for Christ Methodist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. 00:37:51.199 --> 00:37:55.760 We pray that today's message has inspired and encouraged you in your walk with Christ. 00:37:56.000 --> 00:38:01.599 To stay connected with our church community, visit us online at Christchurch Methodists.org. 00:38:01.840 --> 00:38:08.800 We hope to see you this upcoming Sunday for worship as we seek to glorify God and make disciples of Jesus Christ all beings.